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THE CASE FOR RANDALL COBB – WIDE RECEIVER

Posted September 17th, 2008 by seth stogsdill

I still realize this is all a bunch of bunk until he comes back in a month or so, but I am solidly among the camp of people who believe that Randall Cobb should play at wide receiver in order to maximize Kentucky’s chances of winning this season.

First things first, a quarterback needs lots of capable receivers in order to optimize success in the SEC. If you look at the recent Kentucky bowl teams, one of the big trends was quality depth at WR. The 98-99 bowl teams of Tim Couch and Dusty Bonner had Craig Yeast, Jimmy Haley, Quentin McCord, Lance Mickelsen, Kevin Coleman, Jimmy Robinson, Derek Smith, Jermaine White and James Whalen.

Those teams also ran a smoke and mirrors gimmick offense, but they had the personnel to do it. The UK teams that won consecutive Music City Bowls had Keenan Burton, Jacob Tamme, Dicky Lyons, Steve Johnson and Rafael Little coming out of the backfield.

This year, Dicky Lyons has been extremely reliable. I’ve liked what I’ve seen from EJ Adams, Matt Roark and Gene McCaskill in limited roles. I think TC Drake and Maurice Grinter have been solid at tight end.

Still, with none of the running backs being as good at catching it out of the backfield as Little, this isn’t enough quality production at WR. I’ve been extremely disappointed with Kyrus Lanxter, to the point where I’m convinced he isn’t even close to healthy after his wrist injury.

I loved what I saw from Cobb against Louisville. He made some good catches and looked great in the open field.

With all of that in mind, why wouldn’t you play Cobb at WR? Isn’t it common sense for a team to somehow get its best players on the field as much as possible?

I think Mike Hartline is wise beyond his years at QB. I don’t have a problem with him starting under center. Wide receiver is clearly the weakest position on the offense, so why not strengthen that position by moving Cobb to the receiving corps?

Joker Phillips has had great success using the middle screen. Of the receivers on the depth chart, the only one I’m comfortable with running that play is Lyons. Cobb might do it even better.

Plus, it opens things up for some trick plays if Phillips wants to go with those. I’m not talking that crap that Ron Hudson pulled when he lined up Jared Lorenzen at WR and Shane Boyd threw a pick. I’m thinking about the play Pittsburgh used in the playoff game against Cincinnati with Antwaan Randle El and Hines Ward, both of whom played QB and college.

Putting Randall Cobb in at wide receiver gives the offense one more big play threat downfield than it would have with Cobb lining up at QB, and the only way for Kentucky to reach its potential this season, the best players need to be on the field as much as possible. Injuries happen. That’s just a part of the game. Cobb got injured when Tony Dixon got shoved into Cobb’s ankle and rolled it. Cobb was blocking downfield on that play, like receivers are supposed to do. It wasn’t a horrific coaching blunder. It was just one of those plays that happen every day. If the people who complained about Cobb getting injured at WR coached my beloved (and 0-2) Minnesota Vikings, Adrian Peterson would only get about five carries per game. Wouldn’t want to get him hurt, would you?

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and I’ve made my case. So what’s yours?

Posted in Dicky Lyons Jr., E.J. Adams, Gene McCaskill, Joker Phillips, Kyrus Lanxter, Matt Roark, Mike Hartline, Randall Cobb, Rich Brooks, T.C. Drake No Comments

Some Observations From The Beatdown

Posted September 1st, 2008 by Kenny Colston

Most of the time, watching a game live will give a person a lot more perspective about a football team than watching them on television. Yesterday was no different. Sitting six rows off the field, I gathered a lot of opinions about our football team, UL’s squad and the crowd as a whole. Here they are:

1. Our defense is for real. If Louisville is a major football team as they claim, the Cats defense is something out of this world. They were constantly faster, looked more athletic, and as Myron Pryor showed in the fourth quarter, in better condition physically as he ran 72 yards after playing a majority of the snaps.

2. The UK offense is not as good as last year but they’re not as bad as some may think. The only thing that really limited the scoring yesterday was that they didn’t take any risks. I understand why though. Hartline had completed six passes in his career coming into yesterday and the coaches didn’t want to make him force anything. They threw a couple of times downfield but overall, the only passes he made were short dumps that put the ball in his receivers hands.

3. Not a lot of injuries: For the first time in a while, one of the sub-stories of the annual rivalry isn’t about injuries suffered in the game. I can only think of two instances where the medical staff was called to the field and they both were for UL. An episode of cramps for Beaumont and another receiver had some sort of minor injury. Good news for both teams.

4. The freshman played well. Randall Cobb got a lot of reps at receiver and then came in late to take some snaps at quarterback. He did well. Matt Roark came up with a huge blocked field goal in the first quarter. Gene McCaskill had several balls thrown his way, only catching one but it was for ten yards. Matt Lentz, a redshirt freshman had an interception late in the game that sped up the celebration.

5. Louisville needs to rethink their offense. It’s just my opinion but Hunter Cantwell sucked yesterday. So bad that when a UL fan kept chanting Mike Hartline sucks, I turned around and asked him if he wanted him on UL because he was better than their beloved Cantwell. I can count on one hand the number of good passes that Cantwell made in the game, although more than half of those got dropped by his receivers. His numbers were better than hartline based on the fact that he gained several yards after the game was no longer in doubt.

6. UL’s coaching staff has room for improvement. I normally don’t pay any attention to the opposing team’s sideline but sitting right behind it, I couldn’t help but watch the Cards bench. The coaches seemed to be more worried about talking to the refs than they did talking to their players. Many of the players were more interested in looking into the stands than they were the field. The funniest thing the UL coaches did happened in the fourth quarter on a UK third down play. UL let the offense set up on the line and then called their second timeout of the half. Coming out of the timeout, they sent 12 players on the field and gave the Cats a first down. I laughed while the red fans around me booed.

7. UL fans need to remember what it’s like to lose. I know it’s been a couple of years since UL has lost back to back games to UK, 10 to be exact, but Cards fans need to lighten up a little. During the fourth quarter, there were two Cards fans that almost got into a fist fight in the section next to me because one guy booed the team and the other didn’t like it. Nobody likes to lose but with the history of UL football, their true fans shoul know what that feels like. GET USED TO IT!

8. The Pizza Pit will once again draw bigger high school crowds than the Cardinals! With the loss yesterday, I see a press conference being held soon to announce the cancellation of the stadium expansion. After all, it won’t be full for another two years when the Cats come back to town. I predict the largest crowd for the rest of this season and probably all of next year will be for the Trinity vs. St Xavier high school football game in a couple of weeks.

That’s all I’ve got, it was fun to be in attendance, as it was the first time I watched UK win in PJCS, and I predict we will be 4-0 going into Tuscaloosa to take on the Tide in our first SEC game. GO CATS!!!
Posted in Gene McCaskill, Hunter Cantwell, Matt Lentz, Matt Roark, Mike Hartline, Myron Pryor, Randall Cobb No Comments